The case for Eric Kendricks as Defensive Player of the Year

The race for Defensive Player of the Year feels more open this season than it has in the past — due in large part to Aaron Donald not threatening the all-time single-season sack record this time around — but a player with a legitimate case for the award is being practically ignored league-wide: Minnesota Vikings linebacker Eric Kendricks.

Let’s start with the most basic point: he’s the highest-graded linebacker in the NFL in overall PFF grade (90.7), which is a figure we come to after an exhaustive play-by-play grading of every player in the NFL. Obviously, we trust the process of how those grades are arrived at and the fact that they consider every play of NFL action — not just the ones…